On reaching Goa’s Varca beach, we unknowlingly say, oh what a cinematic place ….! Varca beach or Colva or some other beach, a new experiment is being done to clean up the beaches, due to this beaches are spotless and the results can be seen during this season. It is ‘Waste Bar’, under this you get a bottle of beer in exchange of beer caps and cigarette buds.
As people throw bottles at the beach after drinking beer, recently, a law on drinking beer on beaches has been enforced in Goa under which Rs 2000 fine will be charged for voilating the law . Unfortunately, number of foreigners in such cases is low. The government made this decision in compulsion. David Salomon, a restaurant owner in Colva Beach, is happy with this. It is said that the foreigners who come here drink quietly in disciplined manner and do everything according to the law, for them there is no problem before or after this law. Those people who were not disciplined, strict laws are necessary for them. Beaches will be neat and clean because of the this and cleanliness is absolutely necessary for the beaches.
Waste bar is offering a bottle of beer in exchange of 10 caps of beer bottles or 20 cigarette buds. The aim of this initiative is to create awareness about environmental protection among tourists coming to Goa, as well as to keep the beaches clean.
The idea of Waste Bar is that of a private beach management agency named Drishti Marine, this agency has been given the task of getting rid of the garbage crisis on Goan beaches by the Goa’s Tourism Ministry. This initiative started on January 30th and on the famous Tito Lane located in Baga Beach, North Goa, west bar were opened in Zanzibar shack.
Norin van Holstein, who conceptualized the campaign together with Drishti Marine, told that the Waste Bar is an ambitious concept. This is also a positive solution to make the beach clean and environmentally sound. This program is also a step towards attracting tourists. The tourists are also very happy because they feel that they are contributing to the society and they are also getting beer for free.
Two things of Goa attracts tourists beach and bars. Therefore, the tourists who come here, should get what they want. Suppose a tourist litters and if this scheme is applicable, then what is the harm if he collects his garbage from there in exchange for a bottle of beer. If assesment is made, the amount spent by cleaning personnel on the beach will definitely be higher then on a bottle of beer in exchange of waste .
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The concept of the Waste Bar was first realized in the Netherlands. From there, these ideas are becoming popular in other places too. Apart from cigarette buds and bottle lid, there is also a bottle of cold beer and cocktails for five plastic straws used. On the same lines, the Waste Bar will be seen in different places in Goa over the next few months.
About 80 lakh tourists visit Goa every year, due to increase in number of tourist, there was a lot of trash collected in Goan beaches and it became a cause for concern for Goa’s tourism industry,because of this number of tourist also decreased. In Goa, a successful campaign was launched for more than 150 days to create awareness of keeping the beaches clean and tidy, the same campaign was conducted this year, which also showed positive results.